Chusetts



(No Model.) 7 H. PEARSON 85 E. A. RICE.

ILLUMINATED SIGN FOR STREET CARS.

No. 545,717. P-ater lted Sept. 5, 1895.

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UNrrED STATES ATENT Enron.

HENRY PEAR-SONYAND ELIZABETH A. RICE, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSA- CI-IUSETTS.

ILLUMINATED SIGN FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,717, dated September 3, 1895. Application filed December 12,189 Serial No. 531,591. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: I

Be it known that we, HENRY PEARSON and ELIZABETH A. RICE, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Revoluble Illuminated Signs for Street-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in multiple signs for the tops of street-railway cars which comprise rotatably mounted hollow bodies, the several sides of which'are transparent and have painted or otherwise conspicuously displayed thereon the route-indications, together with one or more lights, preferably electric, shielded from direct view, for lighting up the interior of the hollow transparent sign-body With diffused light, whereby the outwardly-facing route-indications will be observable; and it consists in the novel features and the arrangement or combination of parts hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim following the description.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which this invention is substantially illustrated, and in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of the upper portion of a car with the improved rotatable illuminable sign mounted thereon. Fig. 2 is in part a front view and in part a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the sign and supports therefor. Fig. 3 is avertical cross-section on the line 3 3, Fig.2. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the end portion of the sign and the support therefor and separable hood and reflector for the lamp, the movable portion of the latter being shown as swung open. Fig. 5 is a partial vertical longitudinal section to illustrate a slight modification in the construction to be hereinafter referred to.

In the drawings,A represents the bodyof the multiple rotatable sign, which is in the form of a square prism, the sides a of which are transparent or translucent and have thereon names or route-indications. Each sign-body has at each end an opening I), which is usually as large as may be practically comprised within the cross-sectional size of the sign-body, and each opening is surrounded by an outwardlyextending annular flange d, which is formed as a part of or an attachment to the framing for the sign.

At and for the support of each end of the sign is a hollow standard B, having attachment-feetf, the upper portion of each of which has a socket or mouth to receive the engagement therewith of the flanged end of the signbody, whereby the sign may have its rotary movement and yet be sufficiently supported against displacement or shifting. As shown, it will be seen that the upper part of the hollow standard is comprised in the shellac, which is substantially in the form of a half-ellipsoid, and this enlargement, of the form specified, has its upper half 9 formed separable from and hinge-connected to the lower half 10, as seen at 2', so that, as very clearlyillustrated in Fig. 4, the upper half of the shell may be thrown open for the purposes of affording access to the electric lamp 0, which is supported in the hollow standard and which is inclosed and hooded by the said half-ellipsoidal enlargement, and also for the purposeof permitting the removal and replacement or substitution of the sign, as may be desirable or necessary.

The lamp has its position directly opposite the end opening of the sign, and the electric Wires for supplying the current for running the lamp may be brought up through'the hollow upright or post h of the support. The interior of the enlarged hood and inclosure for the lamp, which also constitutes the journal, support for the sign, has its internal surface so polished and bright as to directly constitute a reflector, or it may have provided therein, as indicated at m in Fig. 5, a thickness of metal or material or combination thereof which is specially provided to constitute the reflector, so that the light from the lamp will be thrown with great illuminating power axially through the hollow sign-body. Of course in lieu of having the upper portion of each sign-support hemiellipsoidal,asshown andreferred to, this part may be hemispherical, or of other form; and it is not our intention to limit this invention to the form, or construction of the parts as they are specifically illustrated and with particularity described, for there are manifest departures therefrom which may be readily resorted to without support at and for each end of the sign, con- 3 sisting of a standard each having its upper portion constructed in the form of a shell with a socket or mouth for the engagement therewith of the circular end portions of the sign which are rotatably j ournaled therein, each of said shells being formed in two separable sections hinged together, and a lamp located in each of said shells opposite the end openings of the sign, whereby said shells maybe thrown open to afiord access to the lamps and to permit the removal and replacement of the sign,

substantially as described.

HENRY PEARSON. ELIZABETH A. RICE. Witnesses:

W. S. BELLoWs, K. I. OLEMoNs. 

